


Waking up

by Swissfics



Series: In our Souls [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Stephen Strange doesn't know everything, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony is too tired for this shit, but he still knows A LOT
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-28
Updated: 2018-08-28
Packaged: 2019-07-03 22:56:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15828627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Swissfics/pseuds/Swissfics
Summary: According to Wong he had been asleep for almost 9 months.It took half those months to get the stupid gauntlet off.





	Waking up

Thanos was defeated; he was  stabbed through the heart by a vibranium poll. Ironman was in the air as Thanos threw it, and Ironman was able to grab it and return it.

He imagined the look on their faces if they could see him like that. The poll literally through him and sticking into the ground; It forced the Titan to stand even in death.

_ But duty calls. _

Tony used the gauntlet to bring everyone back. He rewinded time to when the Hulk had crashed into the sanctum- he didn’t know about the Asgardian ship that was destroyed because  _ no one cared to tell him _ , but maybe it was just that Thor was  _ just to busy _ to mourn. 

He had opened the door to the sanctum seconds after Strange helped Bruce stand up. Tony had to admit; the look on all three of their faces was priceless. They all looked scared, but Strange recovered the quickest. Maybe it was because he was a doctor and he's probably seen someone with blood dripping down the side of their head, multiple deep cuts that probably should have killed him from blood loss by then, and he's probably seen someone dead on their feet before. Not literally dead, but at that moment Tony has never felt closer, and he thinks that's an achievement considering he has woken up during a rather painful makeshift surgery. 

Tony was out soon after that. If he was being honest it was probably a mixture of being in the old sanctum again and seeing Strange. He was almost sure the doctor knew exactly what was happening and exactly what to do, so he sorta just fell. He was braced for impact with the floor, or braced as he could be, but he never hit the floor but rather a certain doctor who looked at him with emotions he has never seem from the man before. He remembers himself speaking with a heavy and dry voice, “Oh, I'm in trouble then.”

According to Wong he had been asleep for almost 9 months, and it took half those months to get the stupid gauntlet off. 

They were close to saying “fuck it” and cutting off his arm.

He also learned from Wong he had been sleeping in the Sanctum and that Strange had used medical spells on him to keep him alive despite the coma. Wong had mentioned many times of him being “lucky” in his spiel, but Tony couldn’t really understand  _ why,  _ but he didn’t ask. Wong left him after telling him to take his time in recovery, Strange said the sanctum is always welcome to him. Tony has no idea what that's supposed to mean.

Tony didn't want to look left arm at first, the one the gauntlet was on, but it really was inevitable. His arm looked and felt weird. When someone sleeps in a weird position for a long time and their arm is on something hard it will kinda have indents of what it was on, and that's what Tony’s arm looks like. But it's what on his arm, the indents if you will, displayed weird looking symbols that Tony couldn’t explain, but what his arm looked like wasn’t the problem; it's how it feels. His arm can move at the elbow to problem, but his wrist and his fingers? His wrist takes a lot of effort to move, and moving his fingers is excruciatingly painful.

_ Wonderful. _

Reality set in as he looked around the room he occupied, but he didn’t mourn and he didn’t cry. He just sighed and leaned against the headboard. 

When Strange got back he immediately went to Tony, and asked him a million questions. Tony didn’t think about the questions and how he answered- he couldn’t get the past all the raw emotions in Strange’s eyes. It was, well, strange how he looked at Tony when he seemed to care about him; it was like looking into someone’s soul if that made any sense. It felt like Tony could literally read his emotions, and  _ sadness _ was a big one.

Days had passed and Tony didn’t leave the sanctum, and it seemed like that was okay with Strange and Wong; if anything it felt like they welcomed him to stay forever if that's what he wanted. 

It seemed that the emotional looks from Strange were there to stay, but he never mentioned them because no one has ever looked at him like that before. It was strange when he received the same looks from Wong, and, now that he thought about it, he gave him the same look when he woke up too. Tony lost himself in his own head for a couple days, but Strange easily brought him back and taught him how to meditate properly; Tony thinks its because they’d been in the same room and Strange could keep an eye on him when he himself meditates.

That became a thing for them. They’d meditate daily then Strange would encourage Tony to at least try to move his left arm, but every time Tony would just stare at him like he grew two heads. Tony would then ask him, “ Are you sure I woke up?” Then Strange would give him “that” look and Tony would smile lightly and shrug it off.

Tony knows Strange would try to help him by using magic, and he knows he should say something about it, but he found himself not caring as much as he would before waking up. Magic itself felt calming to be around, maybe that's why he’s stayed so long, and Tony would wake up surrounded by it and he would feel incredibly safe; maybe that itself would have been a warning sign.

One day Tony got tired of the overly emotional looks and he asked Strange about it.

“ What is with the looks you and Wong give me?” Tony asked during their meditation.

“ Our what?”

Tony knew he was looking at him, “ You and Wong look at me with all your emotions. I can read ‘em like a book. Is it a magic thing you guys do?” Tony didn’t receive an answer, so he continued, “ I’d understand if it were. Magic itself is kinda weird, so weird quirks are bound to happen, but I’d appreciate it if you two would stop looking at me like I am gonna break apart and shatter to a million pieces.” Tony opened his eyes to see Strange looking at him.

Strange stared at him for a moment before responding, “ Tony we don’t show emotions openly like how you describe. If anything we were trained to ignore them and act logically.”

“ Well, you two haven’t been doing a good job of it recently.” Tony deadpanned.

“ I would… I would say we have considering we’ve both made strides to making sure we didn’t show pity towards you.” Strange said cautiously as he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

Tony looked at him with a raised eyebrow and a cocked head, “ you have?”

Strange looked away from him, “ Interesting.”

It was another month later when Strange fully went over what happened and what  _ may have happened _ as well. 

When Tony fell into Strange’s arms the soul stone, “the orange one,” Wong clarified, glowed before totally disappearing. It disappeared at the same time Tony fell unconscious and after sending the guardians back to that planet it revealed it did not got back to its place of origin. When they managed to get the gauntlet off by use of Strange’s magic the other infinity gems scattered leaving the gauntlet to literally crumble to dust. They noticed the indents on Tony’s arm, but they couldn’t match it to anything they had in the books. They even had Thor and the guardians over to look at it, and they couldn’t place it either.

“ And that brings me to my theory.” Strange says looking at Tony critically, “ I think the soul gem possibly joined with your own soul.” 

Tony blinked up at him.

“ Tony?” Strange asks as he slides his hand onto the shorter man’s shoulder.

“ That makes no sense. By all means I should be dead then. A gem’s energy could wipe out a planet. I don’t understand-” Tony says incredulously. 

“ Tony, calm down. I know how it works. I know it's theoretically impossible, and it could be very well be that I’m completely wrong, but it makes sense. It could be that when you fell unconscious you feared for something, whether it being yourself or your team, and the soul gem reacted to it. You never really knew how to control the gauntlet and I think this is how the soul gem reacted to your fear.”

“ This- This makes no sense-” Tony says as he places both his hands on Strange’s arm that he had on his shoulder.

“ It is only a theory.” Strange clearifies, but Tony could see it; Tony could see the fear and doubt in Strange’s eyes.

“ Right.” 

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know why I consistently hurt Tony when I personally feel like trash.  
> (Whoops we got a series out of it!)  
> Yes, in the comics the soul stone lets the user do a lot, but never says anything about seeing emotions. Good thing the MCU doesn't like to explain things to avoid plot holes :).
> 
> As always, constructive criticism is always welcomed.


End file.
